When Jesse Met Reuben
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: Jesse's grandfather had always told her: "Collect whatever you find when exploring. You'll never know what will come in handy some day." Well… could adopting a pig count? [Female pronouns used, but fairly neutral otherwise][WIP][R&R]
1. Grandpa's Map

"Stupid Aiden… I'll show him..."

Short for someone her age, but no less determined, Jesse angrily practiced her sword swings on a tree trunk. Tiny little Jesse also had a temper, and today the bully Aiden was on her hit list. The child had been so desperate to see Aiden's head roll that she had drawn a rather crude caricature of Aiden's face onto the tree trunk.

"That's for calling me a runt!" Jesse sneered, swinging the sword with both her hands at the trunk. "And that's for having that stupid blonde kid defend you…!"

Jesse took a moment to catch her breath before looking at up at her crudely drawn Aiden face with spite. "And this..." Jesse slowly started to say, drawing the sword to stab the caricature in the eye, "Is for being a jerk!" and without further hesitation, Jesse used all her strength to force the sword into the tree trunk. For a moment, she took a step back to contemplate what she had done.

"Now you need to get that sword out Jesse," the child then said to herself bitterly. The attempt to do so soon blew over as, apparently, Jesse had forced the sword in enough that it would no longer budge. Now choosing to be bitter at the tree instead of Aiden, Jesse (without much thought) kicked the tree trunk in vengeance… and also really hurt her toe in the process.

Saying the only nasty words she knew, Jesse eventually recovered before looking up at the sky. It was starting to get dark- the monsters were going to come out soon. The child gave one last look at their very much stuck sword and gave up on it to head home. Maybe Gramps could get it out for her tomorrow.

Gramps was the only relative that Jesse knew, if he was even her grandfather to begin with. She figured he did look enough like her, at least, but with dark grey hair and tons more wrinkles on his face. He was an adventurous type, you could say, and he was a collector of 'all and nothing', as he put it. "At any opportunity you have to collect something, do it." he once told her. "You'll never know what will come in handy some day."

When Jesse came through the door, she paid no mind to how she shut it- so she ended up slamming it closed instead. Gramps, who was sitting in the living room, looked up from the book he was reading to give Jesse a rather passive glare.

"Rough day squirt?" he questioned as Jesse walked on over to flop down on the rug in front of the fireplace. Gramps watched the slightly melodramatic display with little sense of humor.

"Aiden's a jerk." Jesse finally told him, throwing her arms off to the side and letting them hit the floor. "He called me a runt again."

"I'm surprised that he hasn't decided to call you a kewpie doll yet." Gramps offhandedly remarked to the child as he returned to his book. "You're too cute to be a porker."

"Gramps!" Jesse instantly shouted in surprise and anger. But the only response was a small shrug of indifference.

"It's not funny!" Jesse then shouted, beginning to get angry at her grandfather now for indirectly making fun of her too. The part that was making her even more even more bitter was the idea that he didn't even look like he cared.

"Never said it was," he still claimed. "However, I've got something to show you that I found earlier. But if you're still too hot from that Aiden kid, I guess we could wait 'til tomorrow..."

Immediately, Jesse's anger at the world went away. When Gramps had a surprise, it was always a good one. Since he collected almost everything, there was always that one thing that would stand out against the others. And some times, that thing went to Jesse if he didn't have a place for it.

"What was it?" Jesse questioned, leaping up to get closer to her grandfather."

"I'm not telling." he said. "You're still mad at everyone."

"No I'm not!" came the immediate, almost disgusted retort. Her grandfather gave her a rather careful side glance as he took his time setting his book down. This only heightened Jesse's excitement and wonder.

"You'll never guess what I have squirt." Jessie's grandfather boasted.

"What? What?!" the child immediately questioned. To Jesse's wonder, her grandfather leaned in closer to whisper,

"Promise to keep it between us?"

Quickly, Jesse gave an eager nod. There were very few occasions when Gramps tried to build a sense of suspense in the child -like at Christmas or Halloween- and no surprise went unrewarded.

"Close your eyes." Gramps requested with a wrinkled smile. Jesse did so, and not long after, her grandfather then said, "Alright, open them again."

Once again, Jesse did as she was told and found herself staring at a map drawn in her grandfather's handwriting. "A map!" Jesse remarked in surprise. The child then took a closer look- the map neatly detailed a pathway that led out from her grandfather's cabin to a waterfall of sorts.

"Not too far away from home, but far enough to do some serious exploring." Gramps then told Jesse as she continued to marvel of the map's finer details. "You can collect some cool stuff, have enough time to come back home before nightfall, and if you are caught out late then there would be more than enough resources for you to stay the night."

Jesse turned up to her grandfather. "You mean it?!" she questioned in surprise and glee. Gramps gave a firm nod, which in turn led Jesse to give him a rather tight hug of thanks.

"Now," Gramps then started to warn, "I would spend the rest of today preparing if you plan on going out right away, and wait until morning. Or, you could take the whole day tomorrow to prepare and go out the day after that. This is your adventure though, and I don't want to force your path."

"What would you do?" Jesse curiously inquired as she looked up at her grandfather.

"It usually depends on the situation." he then informed her. "Since there's not true need for you to go right away, I would take a day to prepare."

Jesse nodded. "Then that's what I'll do," she decided. Her grandfather nodded in agreement as well. He then look down at his watch.

"Whew, it's getting pretty late kiddo." he then remarked. "You should probably get to bed so we can start getting ready early tomorrow, don't you think?"

He didn't need to breathe another word, as Jesse immediately ran to her room, jumped onto her bed, covered herself up with a comforter, and refused to get up until the sunlight came through her window the next morning.


	2. The Trapped Piglet

Jesse prepared everything herself that morning. Gramps looked over her preparations with her, just to be sure, and he had to admit that even he was impressed with her arsenal. There had been times -not that long ago- when Gramps would take Jesse out for hikes and he would show her what things they needed in case of an emergency. Jesse had all of it and a bag of chips.

Literally.

"There's one last thing you need to know before going out tomorrow." Gramps told Jesse after the third recheck of everything in her knapsack. Jesse looked up at her grandfather. She had thought that they had done everything, what else could he have to show her?

"What is it?" the curious child asked.

Gramps just smiled at Jesse before saying, "Making your own crafting table."

The gasp that came out of the child was as thrilled as it was horrified. "You can… _do_ that?!" she questioned, her tone reaching a level that has near supersonic.

"Yep." Gramps agreed with a wide grin. "But I can only show you on paper, got it? We already have a crafting table in the house and having another just for you just to practice making is impractical- let alone going to be a nuisance when you have to lug everything else with you."

Jesse had already tuned her grandfather out, bouncing on her toes with excitement.

"It's real simple, squirt." he said to her, getting down more to her level as if this were some big government secret. "Just four planks of wood, stacked on top of each other."

The young child couldn't help but gawk at the idea. "Shut. Up." she even said in awe. "You're joking. You're kidding with me Gramps, right?!"

But her grandfather shook his head. "You can store all the wood, stone, and water blocks you want- but it wouldn't mean jack if you didn't have a table to craft it on." he asserted with a firm tone. For a moment, Jesse had nothing to say. The mere idea of being able to make a crafting table -the key to all crafting!- was such a broad concept for her that it likely blew her mind right then and there.

"Hey… Gramps..." the child eventually spoke in a tiny voice.

"Yep squirt?"

In a swift movement almost unseen to the natural eye, Jesse had pulled her grandfather into a hug. In a single breath, the child then uttered, "I love you."

. . .

If Jesse was in the position to boast, she quite believed that she was making good time with the map's instructions. She had left roughly an hour after the sun had risen, and judging by the shadow cast from the trees surrounding, Jesse now believed that it was a little after noon. She could hear the waterfall from here- it was taunting her, calling out like a siren in the middle of the ocean.

"Should I build a small shelter now," the child pondered to herself as she continued to walk along the path outlined on the map, "Or should I wait until later?"

In reality, she just wanted an excuse to build her own crafting table.

Thinking back and forth on the idea while still referring to the map, Jesse actually found herself a bit surprised when she happened to look up and see the waterfall on the map so close. It wasn't an impressive one, in retrospect, but it was beyond what Jesse had seen before that. She took a step back to admire the view regardless.

In was in this sense of wonder when Jesse heard something. The child spun around, immediately praying that it wasn't a creeper. But the sound came back again, and Jesse listened closer. It was like a… squeal, of some sort, closer to where the waterfall became a pool of water. Curious -and just as likely incredibly stupid- Jesse started to walk toward the noise. She followed it to a small bramble to see something pink inside. Thinking for a moment before randomly sticking her fingers in something she wasn't familiar with, Jesse quickly looked around for a stick to push back the branches to uncover the pink thing. After she had uncovered enough of the thing, she jumped back in surprise.

Trapped in the bramble with its hind leg caught in a particularly thorny vine, was a small pig.

The little pig looked up at Jesse and let out an alarmed squeal, covering its face as if it would prevent her from seeing it. It's whole body was shaking in fear and Jesse couldn't help but let her out go out for the thing. Immediately, Jesse knew what she had to do and got out her knapsack for a pair of scissors. The pig saw her scissors and feared the worst, scuttling away from her as well as it could the closer she got to it. Seeing this, Jesse recoiled.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she told the pig, "I want to free you. Do you understand?"

The pig still tried to get away from her. Biting her lip in thought, Jesse placed the scissors in her back pocket for the time being as she thought. She was no expert with animals, but it was easy to tell that this little pig had been stuck for awhile. At this rate, it was going to die if she didn't help it soon.

It was in that moment that Jesse realized she was exceedingly hungry.

She took a look at the pig, then had another idea. Jesse dug back inside her knapsack to get out her potato chips. With very little care, the child ripped the back open and stuck her hand in to pull out the first chip. She didn't even appreciate how hungry she was until she was staring at that chip, but she refrained from eating it; instead, she carefully placed the chip as close to the pig as she could.

"It's a potato chip." she told it calmly and with a friendly smile. "Low-sodium too. Gramps says that the normal kind makes him bloated… or something like that."

The pig took one sniff at the chip and recoiled again, not trusting the substance. Jesse frowned, but at the command of her own growling stomach, she started to eat away at the chips still in the bag. The pig watched her, then looked back down at the chip Jesse had offered earlier. Well, if this 'potato chip' wasn't killing her…

Jesse patiently watched as the piglet cautiously ate the potato chip. A few chomps and a swallow, the tiny creature found that it liked the chip and looked up at Jesse in a silent plea for more.

"You want more?" Jesse softly asked. "Here," she the said, placing the chip bag in front of the pig, "You can have the rest of the bag."

The pig looked up at Jesse's offering with a mixture of surprise and gratefulness before sticking its face inside the bag for scraps. Smiling that she had earned some trust from the piglet, Jesse pulled out her scissors again and made haste in cutting the vine off of the tiny pig's leg. The creature wasn't even aware of what had happened by the time it finished off the bag's contents.

"All done?" Jesse asked when the pig pulled its snout out from the bag. The child was thanks with a snort of agreement and something that resembled a smile. Jesse returned the gesture with a smile of her own.


	3. Trust Through Sandwiches

It was pretty late in the day when Jesse decided that it would be safer to stay at the waterfall than return home. The pig had gone back to not trusting her again after it had eaten her chips and refused to come out of the brambles. Jesse wondered if it even knew if it was free from the vines yet.

The child had been resourceful; having made a small hut near the waterfall, she did some minor scouting for some wood after. She had constructed her own crafting table with little fanfare or celebration, as the fun of making her own soon went away when she found that she had to craft tons more objects now to stay alive for the night. Jesse did keep it in her mind to thank Gramps for the secret, though, but she was never going to build another crafting table in her life if she couldn't help it.

Morning came far too quickly for Jesse. She made do with the waterfall's lake and rinsed herself off a bit before looking over at the bramble.

"I wonder if that pig is still there..." she hummed to herself. Once more curious, Jesse found herself walking over to the bramble. Sure enough, the piglet was still there. It was sleeping, however. The child gave the tiny creature a small smile. It was a cute little thing- for a pig, at least. Quietly getting back up, Jesse went back inside her hut and started to craft a sandwich for breakfast. She could only eat half of it, so she saved the rest just in case the pig wanted something to eat.

Jesse went back to the bramble and found that the piglet had woken up.

"Hi." she smiled to it, accidentally scaring it in the process. It looked over at her and gave a rather unhappy grunt. Realizing her mistake, Jesse gave the pig a rather apologetic chuckle while scratching the back of her neck. It was there that Jesse saw the young pig's leg that had been trapped in the vines yesterday; it looked horrible, having been an open wound earlier, upon closer inspection Jesse almost wondered if the foot was fractured as well.

Without much warning, Jesse started to move toward the pig to get a closer look at the leg. The pig took this as a sign of attack and started to squeal at her in protest. Immediately, Jesse returned to where she was, reminded that the poor creature wasn't sure whether to trust her or not. She figured that it was already in pain, and fear of her wasn't going to help that any time soon.

Gramps had once said something about gaining a dog's trust. What was it again…?

Ah yes, now she remembered: if you know the dog is friendly, you should offer the back side of your hand so it can get used to your scent and know that you are not an enemy. But would it work on a pig like that? Jesse figured, at this point, that it was worth a shot at least.

"Here piggy, it's alright..." Jesse coaxed, offering her hand out. "I won't hurt you. Promise."

But the pig went further back. Jesse recoiled a bit to rethink her strategy again. This plan obviously wasn't working, but there had to be another way. Then the child had an idea and started to dig around her inventory for the other half of the sandwich she had made earlier.

"Are you hungry boy?" Jesse then offered. "I've got a sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly, just for you."

The snort she received was no less trusting than the others (in by saying that it was not), but there was definitely a hint that the creature did want some food. Jesse answered by pulling out the half of the sandwich and placed it close enough for the pig to eat it. The creature took to it as if it had been the only thing it's eaten in a week. Jesse watched as the pig ate, and when it finished she then said to it,

"You know, I could make more sandwiches for you if you wanted. But you need to trust me, and let me take you inside my little hut over there. I'll even bandage your leg up so it doesn't hurt as much. What do you think about that?"

The pig looked up at her- skeptical, and wondering if it really was hungry enough to trust her a bit longer. It lulled its options over for a few moment before giving Jesse an affirmative oink. 'I'll trust you for now,' the oink informed the child, 'But only if you feed me and make the hurt go away.'

Jesse smiled.

. . .

"There you go." Jesse said as she sat another sandwich down in front of the pig. "It's turkey and swiss cheese this time."

The pig didn't seem to care and dug in regardless. As it ate, Jesse looked around it to get a better look at its foot. How come every time she looked at it, it always seemed to look worse than what it was? The pig seemed to notice her hesitation, turning to her and giving a rather informative oink.

"Sorry..." Jesse apologized, "It just keeps getting worse every time I see it."

The pig gave her an annoyed snort that essentially told her that she needed to fix it, obviously, if it looked so bad. But Jesse shook her head.

"I think it needs more than just the first aid I know." she decided. "I think I need to take you to Gramps. He'll know more about fractures."

The pig let out an alarmed squeal. 'More? There are more of you?!' Jesse immediately picked up on this distress and threw her arms up to show innocence.

"He's just like me, promise!" she told it, as if it was going to change its mind immediately, "He looks just like me but with older and with tons more wrinkles. Gramps is nice, and friendly, and won't eat pigs that are my friends. Promise."

The piglet looked at Jesse with a less than thrilled expression. 'Sure, sure he is…'

"Let me quickly wrap up your leg though, then I can pack everything up and we can go get him. Is that alright?"

The pig let out an oink in reply. 'I've trusted you this far,' it implied, 'Not what we originally planned though…'

Jesse gave an apologetic side smile before going over to her knapsack for the first aid kit. Before she started to patch up the pig's leg, she made it one more sandwich to distract it. It seemed to appreciate the gesture and tried not to winch too much when Jesse would tie something a bit too tight- the child always apologized for it, mentioning something that she got real fidgety when nervous or something.

Meh, it could get used to this kid.

For now.


	4. A New Name and Family

_**I do not like author's notes: they screw up the word count, can take forever to get on with the story, and in general cause a reader's attention to head in the opposite direction.**_

 _ **However, today is my birthday. I'm going to make an exception.**_

 _ **So here are some things of note before we continue with the story: (1) This was originally planned as a three-shot (a three chapter story) but is now going to be about six chapters instead. (2) I am not a fan nor familiar with the original Minecraft- it's not my playing style. Correct me on lore as you see fit. (3) I have some how associated Eminem and Rihanna's The Monster to Minecraft: Story Mode. I have a hard time unseeing Lukas doing Eminem's rap… And finally (4) I almost always write with a tanned, female Jesse in mind and I believe that Lukesse is canon.**_

 _ **But now this A/N is longer than I thought it would be, so on to the story. Thank you taking the time read and remember that constructive reviews (on this fic, or the many others I've got) are the best birthday present!**_

-. . .-

It was truly a sight to behold; a young child with a rather large knapsack behind her, carrying a tiny pig in her arms as she took them out of the woods.

"My name's Jesse, by the way." the child rambled at some point. "I know you don't care or anything..."

The pig attempted to crane its neck around to look at her to give her its opinion. It was a rather nice one.

"Thanks." was Jesse's bashful answer. "Gramps said that it's a pretty old name- it means 'God exists.' It's kinda like, I was meant to help the world or something some day. You know?"

An agreed oink came from the pig, causing Jesse to smile a bit brighter.

"Do you have a name?" Jesse then asked the pig. A small snort informed her that it did not. Discovering this, the child went silent for a few moments. Eventually, Jesse spoke again in a thoughtful voice,

"You really liked the sandwiches I made, didn't you?"

A confused oink answered her. What was she getting at?

"How about we call you… Gyro?" Jesse suggested. But the pig immediately debunked the name. This did not stop the child from brainstorming.

"BL..." Jesse started to suggest before trailing off at catching the pig's expression. "Yeah, you're right," she then sheepishly chuckled, "That one probably isn't the best..."

The duo was silent as they each thought of names that they could give the little pig. It was the pig itself that gave a new suggestion.

"Nah," Jesse disagreed with a shake of her head, "Chow mein doesn't fit you, plus it's disgusting."

The pig gave another suggestion.

"Not Dagwood either." the child refused. "And if you suggest Fluffernutter just once, I'll never take you seriously ever again!"

The pig couldn't help but go into a rolling laughter at this suggestion. Even Jesse started to laugh at the idea. Then, suddenly, Jesse had the perfect name. "Reuben." she said out loud with a smile. "What do you think about Reuben?"

The little pig seemed to think this over before looking at Jesse, giving an affirmative oink and determined nod. Jesse smiled.

"Reuben it is then." she agreed with a nod.

. . .

Gramps had been taking a rather peaceful nap when he had heard Jesse shout, "Gramps!" from ten blocks away. It wasn't a second after that he jolted awake and raced to the door. Instead of seeing a broken and beat up Jesse dragging herself to the home, he was relieved to see that a very well nourished Jesse was coming up. It didn't take him long to notice the piglet in her arms and he wondered almost immediately where she found it.

"I made a new friend." Jesse beamed. "Meet Reuben!"

Gramps took a look from the child to the pig, who looked right back at him with a rather uncanny expression.

"He's… cute, squirt." Gramps eventually said, unsure of what else to say.

"He's also in pain." Jesse informed him. "I found him by the waterfall on your map, stuck in some vines and his foot was caught. I did what I could, but..."

"Let's go inside and settle down a bit." Gramps informed Jesse, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'll take a look at our friend's leg and you can tell me more about how you found him. Sound fair?"

Jesse nodded and they all went inside to do just that. Gramps had a fire roaring in the fireplace, and after the old man had fixed Reuben's leg better, the little pig found a spot near the warmth. Not long after that, he was soon asleep. Jesse sat next to Reuben, softly patting him and subconsciously making sure that he wasn't getting too toasted from being so close to the flame. Some times, Reuben would make a little sound or movement that indicated that he was having a bad dream, but it soon went away when Jesse softly reminded him where he was. It was almost like taking care of a baby.

"Gramps," Jesse said over her shoulder, "Do you know how to take care of a pig?"

"Can't say that I do squirt." her grandfather replied from his chair. "But your new friend does seem to be a bit restless."

"What if I took him from his family?" the child then wondered sadly. "What if they're just… waiting for him, and they think he's still in trouble. Or… or maybe even..."

"Jesse," Gramps then started to say, calm but authoritative, "If your friend had a family, he would have returned to them. They would have been there with him, even, when he was still stuck. His family could have intentionally left him behind for all we know."

A quiet little "Oh..." escaped Jesse's lips as she got closer to the little pig.

Gramps hesitated for a moment before saying, "He might have been the runt of the litter- which would explain quite a bit, actually. We may be the only family he knows now."

Jesse turned her head up to look at her grandfather.

"Do you think he'd want us as his new family?" the child inquired with a tilt of her head.

"You'd have to ask him squirt." came the shrugging reply. Jesse took one last look at her grandfather curiously before turning back to Reuben. She'd wait for him to wake up before asking, but something told her that they would be friends at the very least.

Most kids want to keep a stray dog or cat they saw- or want to adopt a horse, hamster, mouse, and whatever else have you. Not Jesse. Jesse wanted to keep Reuben, but not as a pet. Oh no, Jesse wanted to keep Reuben as a friend.

Distracting Jesse from her thoughts, Gramps started to get up from his chair. He mumbled something about getting contact with someone before leaving the room. Jesse wondered what he was doing until he came back.

"Say, squirt," he said to her, "Are you free tomorrow?"

Jesse blinked. "Yeah. Why?"

Gramps gave an absent nod as he went out of her view again. Jesse wondered what he was up to and had an urge to go after him to see what he was doing, but Reuben was starting to wake up. The little pig collecting his bearings for a moment before seeing Jesse, and letting out a relaxed sigh.

"Have a nice nap?" Jesse asked Reuben with a smile. The little creature gave a so-so answer that caused the child to frown. "Hey… Reuben," Jesse then said, "Gramps and I were talking while you were sleeping. We thought that… that maybe you didn't have a family anymore. And we… _I_ … wanted to know if you'd stay with us…?"

Reuben looked at Jesse, almost as if he couldn't believe what she had just said. He thought the idea over a little before carefully, slowly, giving Jesse an affirming nod. Filled with glee, Jesse was just about to give Reuben a happy hug before Gramps came back into the room.

"I know someone who can help you take care of him." the old man informed the child as if knew that Reuben had agreed to stay. "You have to meet her tomorrow at noon."

"Who am I seeing?" Jesse questioned. To this, her grandfather smiled.

"Her name is Petra."


	5. Prickly Petra

Everyone stopped and stared as Reuben and Jesse walked past. It likely didn't help that they were holding a conversation not unexpected from friends when one was injured.

"I'm not walking any faster than I need to." Jesse told Reuben for the fifth time. "Gramps said your leg was almost fractured. Going too fast might make it worse. I'd rather carry you instead, to be honest..."

Reuben looked up at Jesse and gave her a death glare if there ever was one. 'I'm not a baby' the glare informed Jesse while aiming straight at the heart, 'And I don't want you to carry me, so you can just walk faster, darnit.'

"Hey!" someone shouted at the duo from behind. Obediently, Jesse and Reuben turned around to see how was calling out. Walking toward them was a red haired girl a bit older than Jesse with dark, almost soulless eyes that only kept track of Reuben. When the girl was close enough to the child and the pig, she looked up at Jesse. The girl looked the child up and down with some disinterest before droning,

"I was told to find a kid with a pig. I assume that's you?" the girl asked Jesse in a voice that was as mocking as it was authoritative.

"My name's Jesse," agreed Jesse, pulling her hand out for a shake, "And that's Reuben."

The girl looked from Jesse to Reuben, who gave her a cheerful smile, before she looked back up at Jesse. " _You're_ Jimmy's rec?" the girl then sneered with disgust. "You're so… _little_."

Jesse stood up a bit straighter, pulling her hand back in when it became obvious that the other kid wasn't going to shake it. "He's my grandfather." the child told the older girl with some feign confidence.

"Whatever." the older girl decided with a roll of her shoulder. "A client's a client."

"The name's Petra." the girl then told Jesse quite smugly. "You want something special, I'm your kid. For a price, of course."

"Gramps said I didn't need to pay for anything..." Jesse slowly informed Petra with a fairly nervous side glance. "He said that everything was ar-"

"If you need something from me _besides_ this, idiot." Petra rephrased, acting as if Jesse was suddenly the most dense person in the world. "I'm doing _this_ gratis, for Jimmy. I owe him... a lot. After today, I could care less if I ever saw you again."

Jesse staggered back a bit in shock from Petra's brash attitude. Why on earth was she being so rude when she seemed to have some respect for Jesse's grandfather?

"Now," Petra then instructed, "If you would kindly follow me. I'd like to finish this off before my next meeting."

Jesse and Reuben exchanged a glance before Jesse looked back up at Petra to nod. "Alright." the child agreed. "I'm following you."

Petra nodded and motioned for them to follow her. Reuben and Jesse exchanged a rather wary glance at each other, but remained close to their leader as she navigated them through crowds of people to an alleyway. Eventually, they came to a dead end with a single loot chest waiting for them. Petra then turned around to look at Jesse, while motioning to the chest.

"Consider it your care package." Petra delightfully sneered as Jesse stepped forward. Giving Reuben a rather wary side glance, Jesse opened the chest and started to go through its contents.

"Carrots… potatoes… Exploring Swine Health and Husbandry..." the child listed absently as she placed everything in her inventory. "And… wood? What would I need that for?"

From behind her, Petra let out a rather amused, and less than friendly, snort. "It's for a fence, dummy- to keep tabs on him. Do you even know how to take care of a pig?" she entertained with a less than friendly smirk.

"Well… no." Jesse sheepishly admitted as she closed the lid on the loot crate to get up again. "But how hard could it be?"

Petra openly laughed. "You're so young and naive," she snickered, "It's adorable."

"H-hey!" Jesse defended, "You're not much older than I am…!"

"But I'm still older. Aren't I?" Petra chuckled. "Plus, I'm not the one who decided to adopt a pig, of all creatures."

"Don't see how it's any different than adopting a dog, or a ferret..." Jesse grumbled without a second thought. Petra glared at her.

"You can't treat every animal like a puppy, Jesse." the older kid informed the younger as she folded her arms in distaste.

"Says who?" came the immediate rebuttal.

"The law of nature." Petra smirked. "Each animal has its own characteristics. You can't just lump them in the same group as a dog or a cat. Pigs, sure they can be domesticated, but not like dogs or cats or whatever. They need space. Maybe some mud to burrow around in and dirt piles to dig for carrots or something..."

"Reuben doesn't do that." Jesse pointed out. "At least, not as often as you make it out to be."

"What are you talking about?" Petra questioned, turning to face Jesse.

"Well," Jesse said with a shrug, "Just look at him- if burrowing in mud and finding carrots is all he's good for, then why is he still here with me?"

Petra frowned before turning her attention to Reuben, who likewise looked up at her with a smart grin. It was then that Petra realized that Reuben did not look the same as a typical pig, and she instantly recoiled at the discovery with some disgust.

"Where did you say you found him?" Petra inquired to Jesse with a skeptic raise of her eyebrow.

"A waterfall." Jesse boasted, although there was no need or reason to. "He was the only living thing around. I was able to gain his trust with my homemade sandwiches."

"How romantic." Petra retorted with a snort.

"Are you making fun of me?!" Jesse immediately retaliated. Even Reuben seemed to take some offense to Petra's snark and positioned himself in a way that looked like he was going to attack her.

"'Course not." came the reply with a lazy flick of the wrist, "Not everyone gets to meet a new friend that way. It's kinda cool."

Jesse paused. "Cool?" she repeated, dumbstruck and in awe. "You think I'm cool?"

"I said _it_ was cool," Petra immediately debunked, "Not you."

"Oh..."

"Let's get going." Petra then informed Jesse and Reuben. "My next appointment is in five minutes, and I'm never late for an appointment."

"Do you think we'll meet again some day?" Jesse inquired, quite innocently. "Maybe on a day when someone didn't pee in your cereal that morning?"

Petra paused before turning to Jesse. Her face and expression were unreadable. It took her some time, but Petra did admit (in a rather ambiguous tone), "Maybe some day." before continuing on her way.


End file.
